Related papers: Diagnosing space telescope misalignment and jitter…
Weak lensing by large-scale structure allows a direct measure of the dark matter distribution. We have used parallel images taken with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on the Hubble Space Telescope to measure weak lensing, or…
We present a new algorithm for estimating the Point Spread Function (PSF) in wide-field astronomical images with extreme source crowding. Robust and accurate PSF estimation in crowded astronomical images dramatically improves the fidelity…
Modern Giant Segmented Mirror Telescopes (GSMTs) like the Extremely Large Telescope, which is currently under construction, depend heavily on Adaptive Optics (AO) systems to correct for atmospheric distortions. However, a residual blur…
(Abridged) Weak gravitational lensing induces distortions on the images of background galaxies, and thus provides a direct measure of mass fluctuations in the universe. Since the distortions induced by lensing on the images of background…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) ushers in a new era of astronomical observation and discovery, offering unprecedented precision in a variety of measurements such as photometry, astrometry, morphology, and shear measurement. Accurate…
Massively multiplexed spectrographs will soon gather large statistical samples of stellar spectra. The accurate estimation of uncertainties on derived parameters, such as line-of-sight velocity $v_\mathrm{los}$, especially for spectra with…
All telescopes and instruments are to some degree affected by scattered light. It is possible to estimate the amount of such scattered light, and even correct for it, with a radially extended point spread function (PSF). The outer parts of…
By measuring photoelectron tracks, the gas pixel detectors of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer satellite provide estimates of the photon detection location and its electric vector position angle (EVPA). However, imperfections in…
The ultimate goal of the "Pi of the Sky" apparatus is observation of optical flashes of astronomical origin and other light sources variable on short timescales. We search mainly for optical emission of Gamma Ray Bursts, but also for…
Wide binaries play a crucial role in analyzing the birth environment of stars and the dynamical evolution of clusters. When wide binaries are located at greater distances, their companions may overlap in the observed images, becoming…
The knowledge of the point spread function (PSF) of imaging instruments represents a fundamental requirement for astronomical observations. The Herschel PACS PSFs delivered by the instrument control centre are obtained from observations of…
Images from adaptive optics systems are generally affected by significant distortions of the point spread function (PSF) across the field of view, depending on the position of natural and artificial guide stars. Image reduction techniques…
Astrometry measures shifts in a star's photocentre and can be used to detect reflex motion due to orbiting exoplanets. Brightness asymmetries (e.g. starspots) rotating in and out of view can also cause apparent motion of the photocenter,…
Continuous wavefront sensing on future space telescopes allows relaxation of stability requirements while still allowing on-orbit diffraction-limited optical performance. We consider the suitability of phase retrieval to continuously…
We present a method to implement the idea of Jain & Taylor to constrain cosmological parameters with weak gravitational lensing. Photometric redshift information on foreground galaxies is used to produce templates of the mass structure at…
To determine the precise positions of stars in CCD frames, various centering algorithms have been proposed for astrometry. The effective point spread function (ePSF) and the Gaussian centering algorithms are two representative centering…
The imaging sharpness of an X-ray telescope is chiefly determined by the optical quality of its focusing optics, which in turn mostly depends on the shape accuracy and the surface finishing of the grazing-incidence X-ray mirrors that…
Reconstruction of the point spread function (PSF) is a critical process in weak lensing measurement. We develop a real-data based and galaxy-oriented pipeline to compare the performances of various PSF reconstruction schemes. Making use of…
We explore the impact of different telescope apertures on the image simulation and deconvolution processes within the context of a synthetic star field. Using HCIPy and Python programming, we modelled six telescope apertures namely…
Astrometric jitter noise arises when starspots on a rotating stellar surface move in and out of view, shifting the photocenter. This noise may limit our ability to detect and weigh small, sub-Neptune-sized planets around active stars. By…